


Declare

by rock_lee



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, i'm an asshole i know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 07:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6557302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rock_lee/pseuds/rock_lee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ganondorf loves her. Simple as that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Declare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [allionmars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allionmars/gifts).



> i didn't bother proofing this bc i'm a lazy piece of shit lmao. uh so enjoy! (srry ahead of time :U )

He remembered each one of his deaths in crystal clear clarity.

 

Through the forehead, one of his weakest points. Straight through the stomach, a wound once healed by the Goddesses in an attempt to continue that cycle. Drowning in the ocean. Torture. Burned. Decapitation was another. The Hero had even once gutted him. He still felt the phantom knife twisting into him at the thought. 

 

This time, he hoped not to wake up in the next life and remember. 

 

“I’m sorry,” she was holding his head in her lap. He was going to stain her dress. Foolish woman. “I… I didn’t want this.”

 

He wheezed. The sword had pierced his lung. She had forbid the Hero from removing it. She wanted him to last just a little longer. 

 

Her eyes were glassy with tears. “I don’t want you to die.” Her hands were on his wound and he knew what she was thinking. 

 

“Don’t,” he growled. It sounded weak even when he tried his hardest to sound frightening. “This must happen. This cycle wasn’t mine to have.” 

 

“Nonsense!” She cried out, fingers tightening despite the sharp edge of the Master Sword cutting into her skin. “Who said the cycles could only belong to one of us?!” 

 

He remembered her face from so many cycles ago, her eyes much more cold. Her grin had been so chilling, so dark he wondered who the true evil was that cycle. It seemed like a dream now. The Zelda in front of him was so different than her ancestors, from his. This Zelda, his Zelda, loved him as much as Hylia had loved Demise. 

 

And he loved her as well. 

  
But as the Goddesses had wanted, each cycle was to end with one of the three’s death. Seemed he never got any breaks anymore. Out of them all, he fell the most often. Was it because they were star-crossed lovers? He could never bring himself to truly kill her - he felt Demise’s conflict each time. The monster had once declared he would end Hylia and her descendants, but each time faced with her, the bitterness, the hatred, would fade. She always resembled Demise’s lover - through the bright blue eyes or the high cheekbones, the rosy lips, it didn’t matter. Demise couldn’t bring Ganondorf to kill her.

 

Instead, he was cursed to love her. Over and over, feigning hate and despise, but all for naught. If she had been smart enough, would have just dug for the real history or Hylia and Demise, one of her more cunning reincarnations might have been smart enough to use his boundless love against him.

Like this Zelda, his Zelda, had done. 

 

“I can heal you,” she murmured, a tad more urgent. She was shaking now with the repressed sobs. “Let me. We can start over.”

 

He closed his eyes. It hurt as much as the sword to see her so distraught. “No. I can’t let you.”

 

He had deserved it. He wanted Hyrule as much as her affections and in the heat of the moment, had forgotten about the damned Hero. Every single time he forgot. When would he learn? He would always fall to the bearer of Courage, no matter what. Even if he did win in the past by killing the hero, the Courage would find a new host. Courage has never been reborn like Power and Wisdom - it’s chooses someone who has a heart strong enough to handle it. It can change whenever it chooses.

 

Unlike Power and Wisdom, it is not confined to the same repetitive and foul existence. Will they ever be able to break the cycle?

 

“Ganondorf, please, for once let me do something for you!” Her voice was rising, her fists shaking even as they clenched his bloodied shirt. The Hero, Link, had caught him off guard. Traversing in the castle's gardens with Zelda, enjoying the peace despite the war he threatened her with. This Link was brave, but had no qualms with attacking an unarmed and unaware foe. “I can’t just let you die! War would follow. The Gerudo wouldn’t take lightly to their King’s death. Please. I must heal you to protect us all.”

 

So selfless. Humble. It was always a reoccurring theme with the descendants of Hylia. They always thought of their people before themselves. Exactly like Hylia had sacrificed her love for Demise for the ‘good’ of the people who praised her. 

 

“No.”

 

She bowed her head and her face suddenly seemed so much more youthful. This time around, she had only been born four years after him. She became Queen so early, only fifteen and he a King at seventeen. She was always much smarter than him, so cunning and a step ahead. They had played the game of court for years, pretending to only care about politics but behind the walls, they invested their care in more intimate ways. 

 

He hadn’t even reached his forties. He was only thirty-two this time. The youngest he had been killed by Courage was actually nineteen. That Hero had been old and wise and easily slaughtered the young warrior with ease. 

 

“Tell me why.” She was watching him with those beautiful eyes (even with the tears, the pain, they still stole his breath). “Give me a good reason.”

 

He looked at the sunset colored sky. She had no doubt missed the meal with the nobles by arguing with him over something that cannot be changed. What was the reason? Why? “The cycle… let it be. If… you save me, I’ll just die later anyway. It’s always how it’s been.”

 

She doesn’t know. She doesn’t remember every life like he does. Sometimes, she can recall hidden memories, some faint dream that feels too real. Her face is screwed up, the tears no longer from sadness, but from anger at his stubbornness no doubt. “The cycle doesn’t matter. What matters is here and now.”

 

He let out a short bark of laughter and her fingers are at his lips now, wiping the blood from them. “Stop it,” she hissed. “Please.”

 

“Let me die knowing one thing, my Zelda.” 

 

His chest hurt and he knew it was time. The sky was suddenly so much brighter and it took him a moment to realize it was her - golden hair, blindingly blue eyes - instead. Her jaw was quivering. 

 

Just one more question for this lifetime. One more moment to add to his memories.

 

“Do you love me?”

 

She sobbed now, loud and very unladylike. He wished he wasn’t the cause for her cracking demeanor. 

 

The sun was setting, her forehead falling against his. Quivering fingers traced his jawline, sliding through the thick red beard that was kept so meticulously groomed. Rain on his cheeks. The wind rushing against his lips. His hands, his feet, his heart - all numb. It feels like the last time.

 

“More than you’ll ever know.”

 

And just like every ending before, he never hears her declare what he has always wanted.


End file.
